Before the semi-finals get under way there’s just about enough time for me to squeeze in a few bits and pieces around the men’s quarter finals. Here we go.
Great Britain vs India 1-1 (2-4 after shootout)
It was a red card, no doubt.
May as well get this out of the way straight away. An opinion that won’t be popular in India, but Amit Rohidas has no reason to be lifting his stick like that. You can’t hit someone in the face and expect to get away with it, especially if there are video umpires involved. I know red cards in hockey are rare, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be given. This was a red card.
Fulton’s critics made to eat their words.
Throughout the Pro League and during the Olympics I’ve seen many India fans being very critical of coach Craig Fulton’s perceived caution and being too defensive. Well, those same fans are probably lauding him now after an absolutely exemplary defensive display saw India through in the most trying of circumstances. They looked solid. Everyone knew where to be and what their role was.
“Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles” as Alex Ferguson once said. Maybe Fulton knows what he’s doing after all.
Harmanpreet vs GB PCs.
One goal from four penalty corners for India vs zero goals from ten penalty corners for Great Britain. When India needed their main man to step up to the plate and find the net, he did it. Scoring just after going down to ten players gave India something to hang onto and was massive in the context of the game. Big players make the big moments.
Sreejesh – The Great Wall of India.
Yes India defended well and yes, Great Britain could have made more of their chances, but if you’re going to pull off a backs-to-the-wall-against-the-odds heist you need your goalkeeper to be on form. Sreejesh stood firm and stood tall even before the shootout with a string of fine saves, including one OUTRAGEOUS one from Will Calnan. And then he came up with the goods in the shootout. From a GB fan perspective, annoying. From a hockey fan perspective, what a performance.
Patience is the key.
At times, Great Britain were not patient enough with the ball. Too often they tried to force passes through crowded areas and were picked off by the defence. Other times, they were too patient, not risking it in 1v1s or not being ready to take the chance to progress the ball as quickly as they should. It’s easy to say sitting in front of the TV and of course ten people in the circle from the opposition makes it hard to find space to break a team down, but it just felt like they couldn’t quite find the right tempo at the right time.
David Ames’ last game?
“That’s me finished as well – not the nicest way to go out but I’m very proud to have been part of this journey and these boys are going to be around for a very long time.” Ames told The Hockey Paper’s Rod Gilmour.
“I have to sit down and reflect. I have given a lot. I made my debut in 2008 which feels like a hell of a long time ago. I have put every bit of my body through hell.
“Maybe the time will come that this is the last bit, but the coaching staff will help me decide that.”
If that is to be the end of the line for Ames, I for one will miss him. An absolutely top class player on the field and an absolutely top class person off it.
Look at the bigger picture.
There will undoubtedly be soul searching, finger pointing and plenty of food for thought in the coming days, weeks and months. Should this player have been picked instead of that player? Does the central programme work? Who should carry on and who should call it a day? The questions will be many and some of them painful. It’s right to ask these questions after a team with so much promise didn’t win a medal. What I would say is we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Paul Revington is clearly a world class coach and he has progressed this side a hell of a lot since he has been in charge. We’d do well to remember that and to think long and hard before making sweeping changes.
Belgium vs Spain (2-3)
Attack, attack, attack.
This was one hell of a game. Before a goal was scored both teams were attacking with pace and intent and clearly desperate to get the first goal. It was nice to see a game with such high stakes being played in such a fashion.
A team is most vulnerable…
…when they’ve just scored. That’s how the old saying goes. And so it proved. Spain went ahead through Jose Basterra and then immediately conceded an equaliser just 30 seconds later. Arthur de Sloover fired past Luis Calzado who might feel he could have saved it. Spain were completely asleep.
Nervy to the end.
Spain went 3-1 ahead and you thought it was all over, but just 57 seconds after establishing that two-goal cushion, they conceded a penalty corner from Alexander Henrdickx to make it 3-2 and set up a tense finale. Just goes to show, you never quite know what’s going to happen in these games.
Absolute Chaos.
The end of this game was absolutely bonkers. The hooter goes, Spain’s bench empties and the celebrations begin. Belgium surround the umpires, the non-engaged umpire awards Belgium a penalty corner. Max Caldas loses it, the players are going nuts. The umpires finally get everyone in position for a last chance saloon penalty corner, Calzado saves and it’s a win for Spain. Absolutely crazy. And brilliant drama.
My prediction looks silly.
“Four wins from five, with one draw is one thing but the way they battered Australia was worrying for everyone else. I know the Aussies will point to the stats and say they tell a different story to the score line, but however you dress it up, that is a result that would make the other teams sit up and take notice.
I’m a big believer in momentum in big tournaments. The more games you win, the more confident you get the more you believe you can’t lose. Belgium are a big danger because they are on that sort of a roll and they have the experience of players who’ve been there and done it. They could be a very good bet to pick up another title.”
I wrote that after the pool stages about Belgium. The men’s competition is so close and so fiercely contested that anyone can make a mockery of such predictions. Maybe I’ll stick to observations rather than predictions.
Netherlands 2-0 Australia.
Beautiful goals.
Duco Telgenkamp sliding in, full stretch on his belly, straining every sinew to get a touch onto Jip Janssen’s pass was a thing of beauty. A perfect penalty corner, perfectly executed. Just beautiful.
Thijs van Dam’s solo effort, slaloming through the defence before calmly slotting home wasn’t too shabby, either.
Was this a surprise?
I sort of felt like this was in the post. The Dutch are the top ranked side in the world and had shown some good form and good performances. Australia are a very good side, make no mistake, but something had been off for them in this tournament. They hadn’t hit the heights they’re capable of, had suffered a couple of defeats, including heavy one to the Belgians, so whilst “anything can happen” in these games, seeing the Dutch brush off the Kookaburras the way they did perhaps wasn’t a huge shock.
Germany 3-2 Argentina
Fine margins.
This was another hugely entertaining and absorbing contest. Germany came in as the favourites and although they went ahead, Argentina kept fighting back. Argentina had more shots and more penalty corners than Germany but couldn’t quite execute. On another day, this could have had a very different outcome.
One for fans of narrative.
Gonzalo Peillat won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in 2016. After a falling out with the national federation and a few years out in the international wilderness, he obtained German citizenship and has been competing for Germany since. So naturally it was always going to be him to find the net against Los Leones. Germany had two penalty corners, Peillat scored one of them and helped Germany to win against his former side. Narrative, narrative, narrative.
That’s the men’s quarter finals put to bed. Hopefully some food for thought there. Now, we’re right into the semi finals!
The Top of the D 
The big question in my mind: Is it acceptable, considering the money that goes into England Hockey, to come away with no medals for either the men or women?
And what has to change, particularly on the men’s side, to shift from also-rans into medallists?
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